One of San Diego’s largest waterfront hotels, the San Diego Marriott, is planning a $200 million renovation that comes with an added bonus for the public: a 32-foot-wide promenade that will give pedestrians a direct connection to the harbor.

While periodic remodels are standard practice for hotels seeking to refresh their brand, the Marriott Hotel and Marina’s mammoth project is far more ambitious, focused in part on boosting convention and meeting business that is a key driver of the hotel’s revenues.

Planned is a $97 million expansion of ballroom space that will replace the hotel’s 23,000-square-foot Marriott Hall with a state-of-the-art, 40,000-square-foot ballroom and a 40,000-square-foot exhibit hall, which general manager Ray Warren said will meet growing demands in the meeting industry for added space for vendors and sophisticated audiovisual presentations.

The planned 32-foot walkway will lead pedestrians from Harbor Drive to the waterfront.— Marriott Hotel and Marina

The planned 32-foot walkway will lead pedestrians from Harbor Drive to the waterfront.
/ Marriott Hotel and Marina

“For large in-house groups, their needs for space have changed dramatically in the last 10 years,” said Warren. “For their general sessions, they need a huge amount of space for all the technology to put on these major presentations. The second issue is that these corporate groups and small associations, in order to subsidize their meetings, want to do exhibits with vendors who they charge to put a booth in.”

Because the Marriott leases land from the San Diego Port District, its walkway and exhibit hall reconstruction will require approval from Port Commissioners in October following a 30-day comment period for the public.

The new walkway, which will be bordered by palm trees and other landscaping, will give pedestrians on Harbor Drive not only easy access to the water but also a clear view now blocked by a parking lot, cooling towers and trees, says the port. It will complement an already existing pathway installed several years ago by the adjacent Manchester Grand Hyatt.

“Visually, if you walk down Harbor, you don’t know how to get to the water,” said Penny Maus, asset manager for the Port District. “But now you’ll have this beautiful, wide pedestrian promenade that will provide you with views of the marina, port parks and the bay.”

The 1,362-room Marriott already has completed renovation of its guestrooms in one of its two towers and expects to finish the $41 million redo of the north tower by next April. Also planned is a $4.2 million makeover of the lobby and front entrance and a $7.7 million redo of the pool area, which will include two new waterfalls, Jacuzzi, pool bar and restaurant and new lighting and sound system.

The revamped Marriott, says Warren, is supposed to reflect a "cool, coastal Californian" look. The redone rooms, which will all have flat-screen televisions, modernized bathrooms with walk-in showers and new carpeting and bedding, will have a color scheme of blues, corals, golds and greens.

Warren said the overall $200 million investment is the most that the hotel’s owner, Host Hotels and Resorts, has ever spent on one of its properties.